PROVO (UT)
Daily Herald
February 3, 2020
By Connor Richards
https://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/majority-of-utahns-support-removing-clergy-exemption-for-reporting-child/article_ab2f0c74-f2b1-5636-9d67-279cdb5a3dc5.html
More than three-quarters of Utahns support legislation to remove reporting exemptions for clergy and other religious leaders who learn about abuse during a religious confession, a new poll has found.
The poll was conducted by The Salt Lake Tribune and Suffolk University between Jan. 18-22. Of all respondents, 67% said they “strongly support” legislation removing clergy exemptions for reporting child abuse while 11.2% said they “somewhat support” such legislation.
Only 7% of respondents said they were “strongly opposed” to legislation removing reporting exemptions for religious leaders and 4.4% said they were “somewhat opposed.” 10.4% of respondents said they didn’t know how they felt. The poll included 500 respondents and has a margin of error of 4.4%.
While Utah law mandates that any adult who learns about child abuse report it to legal authorities, there is an exemption for religious leaders who learn about abuse from a perpetrator during a confidential confession. Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, is sponsoring a bill, House Bill 90, to remove this exemption.
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